Wenceslaus Hollar, born in 1607 in Prague, Bohemia, was an etcher. He left Prague in 1627, most likely because of Emperor Ferdinand II's edict requiring Bohemian nobility to convert to Catholicism. After leaving Prague, he worked for the engraver, Matthaus Merian in 1631. He was employed by Thomas Howard, the earl of Arundel and settled with them in Arundel House England. In 1644, he moved to Antwerp where he produced copies of paintings and drawings, and topographical and architectural prints. He returned to London in 1652 and worked for the publisher John Ogilby, providing illustrations for Ogliby’s Virgil and Aesop’s Fables. He also worked for the antiquary and herald Sir William Dugdale, creating illustrations for Antiquities of Warwickshire, History of St. Paul’s Cathedral and Monasticon Anglicanum. He started a large-scale map of London in 1660, but with the great fire in 1666, he made smaller maps and views depicting the damage. He died in England in 1677.

Seven Unpublished Drawings were engraved in the 17th century, the Stephen Powys Mark's London Map Collection example were photographed from the original drawing in the Pepysian Library by permission of the Master and Fellows of Magdalene College, Cambridge and published by The London Topographical Society on May 24, 1922.

In the 19th century, there was a need for new cemeteries in London due to a population increase. In 1832, Parliament passed a bill that established the General Cemetery Company. Kensal Green Cemetery was founded in 1833 and was the first commercial cemetery in London. A competition was held for the design of the new cemetery, the winner was Henry Edward Kendall. Initially the cemetery was 55 acres, an additional 22 were added. John Griffith developed the scheme of the landscaping, the final designs were by Richard Forrest, and Hugh Ronalds excavated and planted the grounds. The Pere-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris done in 1804 and the writings of J.C. Loudon in his Encyclopaedia of Gardening and Gardeners Magazine influenced the design of the cemetery. After landscaping the cemetery, it became an attractive location for the wealthy to have their tombs.

John Britton, born at Kington St. Michael in 1771, was an antiquary, topographer, editor, and author. He was apprenticed to a wine merchant and then after success as a writer, was commissioned to compile an account of Wiltshire. The Beauties of Wilshire (1801) was the first of a series of topographical books that became popular and formed a new class of literary works. In 1805, he began publishing his nine-volume Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain, followed by the fourteen volume Cathedral Antiquities of England. He was one of the leading advocates for the Neo-Gothic revival. After his death in 1857, the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society acquired his library of topographical and antiquarian books and manuscripts.

Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, born in London in 1812, was an English architect and designer. His first job was with Rundell & Bridge goldsmiths. He also designed furniture and painted scenery for a theatre. He began a short-lived business producing Gothic carving and training masons in Medieval stonework. In 1839, he completed his first church, St. Mary’s at Uttoxeter. He built the Grange and St. Augustine’s in Kent, and his first domestic commission, Scarisbrick Hall in Lancashire. He designed several buildings in London including St. George’s Cathedral, St. Joseph’s Primary School, and worked on the Parliament buildings. His writings include Contrasts: or A Parallel Between the Noble Edifices of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries and Similar Buildings of the Present Day in 1936 and The True Principle of Pointed or Christian Architecture in 1841. He was the commissioner of Fine Arts for the Great Exhibition in 1851. He died in 1852.

Map from Illustrations of the Public Buildings of London Georeferenced File